LaSalle Investment Management Buys Logistics Portfolio in Poland

City Logistics Warsaw II. Image courtesy of Panattoni Europe

Acting on behalf of the LaSalle E-REGI fund, LaSalle Investment Management has acquired a portfolio of two Class A logistics parks in Warsaw, Poland. The global real estate investment manager purchased the last-mile properties, which total nearly 270,000 square feet, from Panattoni Europe and Marvipol Development for a total of €30 million, or approximately $35.4 million.

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The portfolio consists of City Logistics Warsaw Airport and City Logistics Warsaw II, both of which Panattoni Europe developed in Warsaw’s inner city in 2019. Warsaw Airport features roughly 115,300 square feet of space, while Warsaw II encompasses 150,700 square feet. Both logistics parks are fully leased to a mix of tenants that includes systems provider TKD Polska, which signed a lease agreement in May 2020 for approximately 8,600 square feet at Warsaw Airport. Warsaw II was fully leased upon its delivery in July 2019. JLL, of which LaSalle is an independent subsidiary, served as LaSalle’s commercial advisor on the transaction.

Panattoni Europe, the largest logistics developer in Europe, has proven a reliable investment-sales source for LaSalle. The investment manager has purchased two other logistics assets in Warsaw—including the 462,800-square-foot Panattoni Park Warsaw West on behalf of the LaSalle Encore+ fund—from Panattoni Europe within the last 12 months.

Watching Warsaw

In a prepared statement, LaSalle asserted that the appeal of Warsaw’s logistics market is greater than ever due to Poland’s developing national road infrastructure, access to low-cost labor and relatively low rents compared to Western Europe. JLL put the spotlight on Warsaw in 2019 as a new magnet for commercial real estate investment, describing the city as a hybrid of emerging and new world cities.

Amid the pandemic, the industrial sector in Warsaw and across Poland is faring well. As per research from Cushman & Wakefield, Poland saw approximately 14 million square feet of warehouse space leased during the second quarter. The forecast for the remainder of the year remains desirable. “Developers’ activity is still robust, but we are currently observing a narrowing of speculative investments which in turn will leave the overall vacancy rate and rents levels stable in the second quarter of 2020,” according to the Cushman & Wakefield report.